Thursday, December 01, 2005

Barrett-Firearms -- AP Corrects their story

Here's the entire AP Article, since it's not real likely that it's going to run on the front page of anyone's newspaper.......

(12-01) 16:50 PST Murfreesboro, Tenn. (AP) --

In a Nov. 25 story about Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc., The Associated Press reported erroneously that .50-caliber rifles were used to penetrate the armor of Iraqi tanks from a mile away during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Such rifles were used against Iraqi armored personnel carriers, but military experts say they could not penetrate tank armor from that distance.

The story also said company founder Ronnie Barrett started tinkering with the .50-caliber Browning Machine Gun in the early 1980s. A company spokesman said Barrett took photos of one such gun, but then built his own rifle.

The story also quoted a criminal justice scholar who said the rifle wasn't useful for hunting because it would destroy game meat — a claim Barrett Firearms disputes. Bryce Towsley, a Vermont-based gun writer, said that when the .50-caliber rifle is used with the proper bullet, it would not destroy the meat.